Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the national anti-polio drive of winter months in Islamabad Friday by administering anti-polio drops to small children.

Addressing the ceremony, he said 40 million children under five years of age will be administered anti-polio drops by 260,000 polio staff during the campaign.

He said Pakistan is among the very few countries that still have traces of polio, despite numerous successes rendered by polio staff. Imran Khan said polio is a crippling disease with lot of repercussions on the population. 

He urged the parents to actively seek administering anti-polio drops to their children, should they miss the campaign.

Earlier, Special Assistant on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza said polio remains a national emergency for us.

He said this year 98 polio cases have been reported in the country. Dr Zafar Mirza said 326 polio cases were reported in 2014 in the country and the figure was brought down to 12 last year. However, due to a number of factors, the polio cases again surfaced. He said all the shortcomings identified in the polio administration are being overcome.

He said anti-polio drives have national agenda and not of any political party. He expressed commitment to completely remove the virus of polio from the country in the coming years.

(Kiani/Haider/Imran)